Pope Benedict XVI: May Al-Rab (not Allah) Bless You
In his latest audience, the Pope blessed Arabic speakers in Arabic. It is notable that he did not use the word “Allah” for God, but the word “al-Rab,” or Lord.
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) – On the Commonweal magazine blog, Michael Peppard posted an article entitled “Pope Benedict: ‘May Allah bless you all!”
While it is unquestionably true that the Holy Father gave a blessing Arabic, he did not say “May Allah bless you all!” as Peppard states.
Peppard says in his article that there is only one word that could have been used by the Pope, and that word was “Allah.”
But in fact, the whole article is built on a faulty premise. There are other words that may be used to refer to God other than Allah, although Allah is certainly one.
The text in Arabic, which can be found on the Vatican website is:
Translated, the meaning is “The pope prays for all Arabic speakers. May God bless you all.”
The word used for “God,” however, was not Allah, but rather al-Rab or Lord.
